Rules of Devotion
by She Wrote That
Summary: Sequel to Never & Forever. Jared and Kim are dealing with the unexpected news they've received as they should; a family unit. However, their happiness is stunted by the prejudices of friends and family as well as certain events beyond their control. "'I don't know if I can do this anymore,' I whispered in a tired voice. 'Then don't,' he whispered back, his voice cracking." T. Lang.
1. Three's a Crowd

**Chapter 1:- Three's a Crowd**

I was stirred from my peaceful slumber by something tickling my stomach. I groaned loudly and wiggled around, trying to get away from the source of the discomfort. My attempts were futile, so I tried to bat the tickles away with my hands, but soon found that they were buried in a head of soft hair.

I cracked open one eye and strained to see what was going on. I remembered falling asleep on Jared's sofa while I was waiting for him to get home from patrolling so figured that that was where I was still resting. At least, I had been resting before a certain someone had decided to annoy me into consciousness.

A look down to the side of the sofa revealed a shirtless kneeling on the floor in front of the sofa and pressing light kisses to my belly. I rolled my eyes, not allowing myself to be charmed by Jared's sweet gesture. He had come in from patrol, half naked and sweating, and instead of going for a shower or waking up his sleeping girlfriend, he'd decided to pull up her top and molest her belly.

"And just what the hell do you think you're doing?" I grumbled sleepily, tugging lightly on Jared's hair.

Jared's lips curved up against the skin of my stomach in a smile before he leaned back and looked at me.

"You're awake," he pointed out, smiling. He reached forward and brushed some stray hair from my face. "I was wondering how long it would take you to come back to life."

I stuck my tongue out at him and struggled ungracefully with myself as I attempted to put my shirt back into place. Damn, but the man had managed to get the material all twisted and stuck.

"Jared!" I whined irritably. "I was having a good dream." I pouted as Jared leaned forward and knocked my hands away, taking it upon himself to fix my shirt.

"I'm sorry," Jared told me half-heartedly, resting his large, warm palms on my belly - this time on top of my shirt. He looked into my eyes and smiled peacefully. "I promise to never show affection towards our child ever again, if it will make you happy."

Oh, he was pulling out the big guns now! He knew that I thought it was adorable when he acknowledged and showed his affection to the child that was growing inside of me.

Not willing to forgive him just yet, I changed the subject. "How was patrol?" I pulled myself upright on the couch, swinging my legs over the side and crossed my arms over my stomach.

Jared sat down on the couch beside me before answering, placing an arm around me and pulling me close to him. "It was fine. No sign of anything interesting."

The vampire trade had been slow recently, which both frustrated and relieved the pack in equal measures. It was frustrating for them because they were all restless and wanting some vampires to tear into. But they were also relieved because it meant that none of them were getting shit from the imprints for being stupid an doing dangerous things and taking unnecessary risks. Needless to say, Emily and I had been a bit on edge since the whole vampire war ordeal.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Jared asked me, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. "Not that I mind coming home to find my beautiful girlfriend asleep on the couch, of course." He pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

I smiled at Jared, knowing that he was going to be excited by the news I had for him. "Well, I thought you'd be interested to know that I was sick this morning."

Jared's brow furrowed. "Are you all right?"

I nodded. "I'm fine."

"Okay, then," Jared mumbled. "Why did you need to come all the way over and tell me this, then? I mean, of course I'm worried that you're sick, but if you're fine..."

"Oh, Jared, you stupid man!" I laughed, taking his hand in mine and squeezing it tightly. "It was morning sickness."

Jared took a moment to understand but then his face split into a happy smile. Before Jared, I thought that telling a boy that he was going to be a dad right out of high school would send him packing, never to call again. But I was only just discovering how wrong I had been. Not only was Jared the most thoughtful and considerate boyfriend, but it was utterly adorable how there was nothing he loved more than to talk about the baby. He was already besotted with the idea of being a father. His love for the baby and me reassured me when I needed it the most. I was doing all the things I'd sworn never to do. I'd sworn I wouldn't get married or have children young and get stuck in La Push, but that wasn't even a question anymore. I would have this baby and I would go wherever Jared went. I would follow him anywhere.

Jared's happy smile faded only a few seconds after it appeared, much to my confusion. I had thought that new about my pregnancy would make Jared happy; knowing that pregnancy was going well and I seemed to be healthy.

Jared stood abruptly up from the couch. "I'm going to go and get dressed and them I'm going to call Carlisle."

I stood up too, following Jared as he marched through the house to the stairs. "Um, why?" I asked him, struggling to keep up with his long strides. I had to practically run up the stairs after him. "I have no objection to you staying sans the clothing." I grinned at Jared when he looked at me, but he shook his head and hardened his resolve.

"You're pregnant, and you're getting sick. We should see a doctor," Jared announced, kicking open his bedroom door. I followed him inside and sat on the large double bed I had helped him to pick out, and watched him start pulling clothes out of his closet hastily. I really didn't want to have to be marched into Forks to see the vampire doctor. Despite Jared having reassured me time and time again that he was one of the 'good guys', it still made me incredibly nervous to even think of being around the good doctor now that I knew what he was and what his instincts drove him to do.

"Jared, I'm not sick!" I pressed. "I'm pregnant and morning sickness is a part of pregnancy. It's perfectly normal!"

Jared slowed his movement and turned to face me, though he still carried on getting dressed. "We should still see a doctor," he decided, though there was no urgency in his tone this time around. "Just to make sure that you're healthy and everything. I don't want anything to happen to your or the baby because I didn't look after you properly. And looking after you properly involves seeing a doctor. And if we see Carlisle, there's no charge. He kind of owes us."

I smiled grimly. Even though Jared had relented on seeing Carlisle immediately, I knew that I would be forced to see him eventually.

"Okay!" I agreed quickly. "We'll see the doctor some time. Just... not today."

_And not Doctor Carlisle._

Jared smiled happily, discarding the t-shirt in his hands and crossing his room to lean down and kiss me.

His lips were as soft and warm and gentle as always, his tongue probing curiously. I opened my mouth to deepen the kiss and raised my hands to press them against Jared's well-formed abs, which he had left bare. The skin, as expected, was inhumanely hot under my palms and I welcomed the heat. While at first, the abnormal temperature of Jared's skin had made me uncomfortable when we were in contact for prolonged periods of time, I now couldn't imagine what being intimate with someone would be like without the almost scorching sensation that skin-to-skin contact with Jared was akin to. For me, Jared was the very definition of true heat. He could warm me better and more thoroughly than any heater, fire-place or blanket ever would be able to.

I slid my hands around Jared's waist and dug my short nails into his back, pulling him down on top of me. The kiss didn't break, but Jared became more gentle. Since the day of Anya's party two weeks before, when we discovered that we were having a baby, Jared had decided that I was even more fragile and breakable than before. In our intimate moments - which were fewer and further between - Jared spent half of his time trying to avoid putting any weight or strain on my person. He was so afraid of hurting the baby and of hurting me. That, I hoped, was one thing that would be improved by the doctor. He would tell us that there was no harm in carrying on as normal, I was sure.

Jared's hands slid under my shirt and he began pushing it upwards for the second time this day; this time, at least, I was conscious for it.

As we tore our mouths away from each-other so that Jared could rid me of my t-shirt, Jared whispered his affections to me.

"I love you," he rasped. "God, I love you." And then his lips were on mine again.

We kissed for some time more, our hands fumbling to try and rid each other of the pesky clothing that divided us. We didn't get far - due to our unwillingness to separate for long enough to assess the task - before we were abruptly interrupted by the slamming of the front door and shouts coming from downstairs.

Jared and I pulled away from each other to listen to the raised voices.

"I can't believe you would do this to me," Maya was screaming. "You utter bastard. I can't believe I fucking fell for you!"

Paul's voice was raised, but the tone wasn't one of anger. "Maya, I can't help it. I just... There's someone else."

I almost choked on the air I sucked in, sitting up quickly and finding my shirt. Jared was doing the same, quickly throwing on some clothes and getting ready to head downstairs and break up the fight before someone did something they regretted. The problem with Paul and Maya's relationship was that Maya was still completely in the dark about Paul's true nature, and so, she would have no qualms about pushing him until he snapped. But then she might find that she wasn't looking so pretty after all.

Jared and I raced downstairs just in time to hear Maya scream, "Fuck you, asshole," and leave the house. The door slammed behind her.

Paul was leaning against a counter in the kitchen when we entered.

"What did you do this time?" I asked him hotly. "'There's someone else'? That's not funny, Paul. I know that Maya wasn't just some casual fling. What are you playing at?"

I had been so skeptical when Paul and Maya had first gotten involved in what they liked to call a 'serious monogamous relationship', and now it seemed that my fears hadn't been completely irrational.

Paul gave me a deadly look before turning to Jared, who seemed to be stuck in the middle of the dispute.

"I imprinted," he told us finally, letting a ghost of a smile flit across his tense face.

* * *

_[A/N] So hey! I'm back with the first chapter of the sequel to Never and Forever! I know that this probably isn't the first chapter y'all were expecting but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!_

_Please review to let me know if you're still reading and I hope you all enjoy what I'm concocting for you all! [A/N]_


	2. Love Me, Love Me

**Chapter Two:- Love Me, Love Me, Say That You Love Me**

When I found Maya, she was distraught. Lying face down on her bed, I could hear her muffled sobs and watched her back shaking with them. She was clutching a photo that she had insisted taking of the four of us; Jared, Paul, Maya and I.

"Ask her when she's going to stop being dramatic and come down for dinner, will you?" her sister asked me as she went past the door. I winced, knowing that Maya could hear what was being said and I watched her back shake again with a renewed wave of sobs. I wished I could slap stupid Beatrice around the face for that comment. Sometimes, siblings could be so hurtful.

I slipped into Maya's bedroom and closed the door behind me. The place smelled strongly of perfume and I wondered if Maya had spilled some; which was when I noticed that the top of her dresser was cleared and little cosmetics were strewn about the room, and the little glass bottle of Maya's signature perfume was smashed in a heap, the golden fluid seeping along the floorboards. If she didn't clean it up soon, her bedroom would smell of Promises for the rest of time.

"Maya?" I asked tentatively. I was almost scared of her reaction. I'd never seen her like this before over boys. If a boy hurt her usually, she just put on a brave face and pretended like it had never mattered to her in the first place. She was one of the strongest people I knew. "Hey, Maya-"

"Why wasn't I good enough, Kim?" Maya suddenly sat up and whined. Her face was streaked and smeared with black from her make-up, and her eyes were swollen up from crying. It was so odd to see her getting this bent out of shape over a boy.

But I knew that Paul hadn't been just another boy for her. She'd really invested herself in this relationship. Perhaps seeing the strength of my relationship with Jared made her more willing to open herself up to that vulnerability... but she had no idea that Jared and I were bound together whether we liked it or not. The truth was, he never would have even looked twice at me without the imprint. Luckily for me, the wolf in him liked a bit of Kim. But Maya was obviously not Paul's imprint and I had always known that it was a risk for her to be so serious about him when there was always going to be a chance that he would just... not want her anymore one day.

I grimaced. "If anything, Maya, you were too good," I told her. Though, I wasn't so sure about that these days. Sure, I had really disliked Paul for quite some time, but since Jared and I had become closer and by extension, I had gotten to know Paul, I had grown quite fond of the fool. Even if he was a complete idiot sometimes.

Maya's red face crumpled again and she flopped back down on her bed, this time curling into a ball. "That's bullshit, Kim! You don't know him like I do... he was brilliant. I... I told him I loved him, and now he won't even look at me and give me a reason for wanting to break up. I just don't understand, Kim!" A new round of loud, sorrowful sobbing ensued and I took a seat next to Maya on her bed and stroked her back in what I hoped was a soothing rhythm.

I couldn't help feeling a little guilty. As much as it angered me, I couldn't bedgrudge Paul the thing that had both broken my best friend's heart, but also made the boy of my dreams take notice of me. I so wanted to be angry at Paul, but I knew that he could help it about as much as I could help being a female. I also wanted to be able to give Maya a reason for Paul's coldness towards her but I was bound. I had sworn to Jared, and the elders that I would keep the secret as if my life depended on it.

"I think that Paul's messed up right now, Maya," I said carefully. In a situation like this, it was important that it seemed like I was coming down on the side of Maya, but I also didn't want to unduly slate Paul. I just really didn't need to be in the middle of this, but I knew I needed to be there for Maya like she had been there for me when Jared broke my heart - even though it turned out it wasn't Jared's fault at all. "I think he's going through some stuff... and that, on top of being regular old Paul just... makes him a bit of an asshole, you know?" I could say that much. I was sure that Paul had been called worse in his life by the friends of girls he had hurt.

Maya's sobs continued and I stayed silently by her side, my hand rubbing her back. It made me think about how... distant Maya and I had become of late. When I was feeling down or having trouble with something, my first instinct was no longer to go to Maya for comfort. In times of need, Jared was the only thing that came to mind anymore. I was going to have to change that now that Maya wasn't in the fold anymore. I didn't want her to start feeling left out or ignored because her and Paul were no longer an item.

"Kim, I love him," Maya groaned, hicupping. "And he doesn't care."

"He does care, Maya!" I promised her fervently. He had to. Perhaps, at the moment, he was a bit too preoccupied to care all too much, but I knew that he would care that he had hurt her. "I think he probably loved you too."

That was the wrong thing to say.

"Loved? Loved? As in, he used to, but not anymore?" Maya ground out. "He was probably only using me for sex... he probably never loved me at all." Maya sat up to face me. Thankfully, she had stopped crying for the time being. "How could he treat me like this if he ever loved me?"

"I... don't know," I admitted. It was never something I'd given much thought to; how to know if someone loved you or not. There was no question in my mind that Jared loved me; it was just a simple fact that I took as it was. I didn't need to question it. It was just something I knew. "I've never really thought about it, I guess."

Maya considered this. "But, I've heard you and Jared tell eachother you love them loads. How do you actually _know_?"

"I don't know. I just do," I murmured, handing Maya a tissue from her bedside table so that she could wipe her face. "But mine and Jared's relationship is a different beast all together. It's not really a fair comparison to make."

Maya raised her eyebrows at me and scrunched up her nose. "Typical. I knew you always thought that you and Jared were more special. You've always thought that your relationship is more important... more real than anyone else's."

"That's not true," I protested, not liking the way in which this conversation seemed to be heading. "Maya, you're like my sister. Of course I was routing for you and Paul!"

Maya shook her head and I could see that she was starting to cry again. "I don't even care right now, Kim. Will you please just go away."

For some reason, my comforting Maya had evolved into her being mad at me for thinking my relationship with Jared was more serious than hers and Paul's. But in truth, it was. It was probably wrong of me to think that. After all, the Quileute powers that be had had to give Jared a swift kick in the right direction in order to get our love fest onto the right track, whereas Paul and Maya hadn't needed any help. In some ways, I supposed that their love - if indeed they had been in love - was more pure and real, because there had been no divine intervention needed to point out the possibility of something beautiful.

Nevertheless, I left Maya on her own in her room with nothing but a muttered apology. I had other things to think about also. I had tried to comfort her and she had turned on me and asked me to leave. Perhaps I just wasn't as good of a friend as Maya was to me. I didn't know how I would have gotten through my time sans Jared without Maya guiding me. There had been a lot of hand holding involved.

After leaving Maya's house, I set my course for back to Jared's house, which would take me along the edge First Beach. Despite having things to do at home, I was intent on talking to Paul about the imprint. Even thouggh I was sad that Maya had been hurt, I truly was excited to hear about the new imprint. It would certainly be exciting to bring her into the fold and show her the ropes. Provided, of course, that she wasn't another child imprint like Claire. Sam had had to physically restrain Emily from attacking Quil with a kitchen knife when she'd been clued in. Jared had looked very worried and spent abour and hour clutching me to his chest in case Emily the psycho made a reappearance.

I was trying not to be mad at Maya, but the more I thought about what she had said to me, I couldn't help the little swell of anger washing over me. I had never, not once, treated her relationship with Paul as inferior to mine and Jared's, even though it would have been a reasonable thing to do. Maya had hurt me more times than I could count, betrayed my trust, and somehow I ended up being the bad guy anyway?

I shook my thoughts off as I strayed from the side of the road on the the damp sand of First Beach. It was pretty empty aside from a few lone figures strewen about, walking their dogs. The day was grey and moist; which was actually a damn site better than what we usually got around here.

"Did somebody send you to find me? Of all the great guys in the pack and I get the lowly imprint. Typical."

I jumped in surprise and looked around to see Leah Clearwater sitting on the sand and regarding me with a disdainful expression on her face. As far as I could tell, things had been difficult for her in the pack. I didn't envy her. First, her father had died from the shock of seeing her phase, and now she had to put up with the annoyance of the other pack member who not only saw her naked on a regular basis, but also included the man  
who had broken her heart.

"Uh, no," I answered dumbly, taking a single step towards Leah. "I was just on my way back to Jared and Paul's." I didn't respond to the clear snipe at my imprint status. Afterall, imprinting seemed to be the bain of her existence, pretty much.

Leah grunted and rolled her eyes. She looked upset, but then again, she always looked angry.

I approached her slowly, not really knowing what to do. She probably didn't really want my company, considering how much she seemed to dislike me and all that I represented, but I would have felt bad leaving her also.

Leah regarded me curiously, as if wondering what the hell I was doing. "I thought you were heading back to Jared's? Won't he get worried if you don't arrive exactly on time. He'll have the entire pack out looking for the missing imprint."

I snorted and sat down tentatively. I didn't dare sit too close to Leah, because if I was being honest, she scared me. Maya had always been the one out of us that dealt with difficult people. Maya probably would have plonked down on Leah's lap and told her to get over it.

"I was visiting Maya," I explained to Leah. "Paul broke up with her."

Leah didn't looked surprised. "About time. It's not like it was ever going to last." Leah was running her fingers through her short black hair, trying to work out the tangles. I assumed that she hadn't been home since she last phased."  
He imprinted," I informed Leah.

This time she looked surprised, but in a sort of diapproving way. "Another one bites the dust," she muttered. "No longer will we know Paul the strong, angry wolf-man. He will now go and join the whipped puppies club. I just hope that Seth never imprints because I just do not want to live with that shit, you know?"

No, I did not know. Because, as far as I was concerned imprinting was a beautiful thing. I would be grateful for it forever. "I don't know. Does imprinting really change them that much?" I'd never known any of the wolves too well before they'd imprinted, apart from Paul and was too early to see any changes there.

Leah looked at me like I was an idiot and shook her head dismissively. She probably did think I was an idiot. "You practically live with Jared and Paul these days. You ask yourself that same question in oh, say a month's time?"

"In a way though, you and Maya are kind of in the same situation. I mean, you both had your heart's broken because of imprinting."

This thought seemed to offend Leah. "No. Sam didn't know that there was a possibility that he was going to imprint. We were together for a long time, whereas Paul knew that this could happen. And really, what was their relationship? A couple of whiny teenagers having sex and playing house. Don't be a fucking idiot, Kim." And with another dirty look in my direction, she got up and stalked towards the tree line.

I sighed and got up, hoping that Leah wouldn't think about insulting me like that. If it got back to Jared he's be most annoying. I didn't want him to go ragging on Leah more than all of the guys already did. They were pack, but in some ways I felt that Leah was still an outsider. She wasn't exactly a pack brother, but she didn't fit in with us imprints either.

My head was going to implode from all the serious thoughts I was having, so I stood up and headed back towards Jared's.

* * *

I arrived at Jared's only to find half of the pack assembled there, grilling Paul on the newest imprint. Emily was there too, unpacking tupperware containers full of muffins onto plates. Sometimes I didn't know why she bothered. The same affect could probably have been achieved by throwing the tub into the little circle of wolves. As it was, I helped her for a moment before nabbing to muffins of my own and making my way over to where Jared was seated on the couch. He pulled me down into his lap with a smile and I handed him one of my treats.

"I don't even know her name," Paul said, exasperated. He noticed my arrival and fixed me with an odd look. "Thanks for this by the way." He seemed to be slightly annoyed with me for some reason.

I looked up at Jared in confusion, who was shaking his head at Paul. "You told Leah," he explained. "She raised the alert about the new imprint." I shrugged. So what?

"Oh well," I muttered. "They were all going to find out eventually. I doubt that's the kind of thing you can keep a secret, right?"

"Not really," Sam acknowledged, backing me up.

Paul glared at me. "Well, since we're sharing... I think you'll all be interested to know that Kim's got a bun in the oven."

The room was silent, apart from Jared cursing quietly and then growling at Paul. Most of the wolves were staring at me curiously, and Emily had paused in her attempts to make Jared's house hospitible.

In reality, I was surprised that the pack hadn't found out about the pregnancy earlier, considering the shared mind. However, when Jared and I had discussed it, we'd decided that we should at least try to keep it a secret until a bit farther along. I was proud of Jared for being able to keep something that he seemed to be so excited about from his brothers.

"Well," Emily murmured, trying hard to break through the tension. "That's great news?" It was clearly a question and I understood why. While all of the wolves seemed to have something ingrained in them that told them that having babies was an absolutely brilliant thing, all of the humans instincts in the room were asking themselves if we were too young.

"You're such an asshole, Paul," Jared growled, jostling me slightly so that he could face Paul head-on. Jared still kept a firm grip on me, however.

Paul just rolled his eyes. "Oh well," he said in a high, squeaky voice like he was trying to imitate me. "It's not like that's the kind of thing you can keep a secret, right?" He looked me in the eye and grinned.

I knew that my cheeks were bright red now; I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I looked at the floor. I could bring myself to look up and face the people in the room. I didn't want to see their judgement. Of course I was embarrassed. I was going to become one of those teenagers pushing a pram in the park with no clue was she's doing, while all the other normally aged mothers tut and cluck.

It was Embry who really broke the tension. He grinned big and snatched me up from Jared's lap in a tight hug. "Well, congratulations, little imprint. I'm going to be an uncle!"

Everybody else suddenly started offering their congratulations also, while Sam stared hard at Paul. He had been out of line, and Sam was making sure that he knew it. Jared gave one last hard look at Paul before smiling and going about extracting me from Seth's tight hug.

"I'm really glad you're happy about it," Seth told me, his eyes sparkling with delight. Brady, next to him, gave me a fond look and told me that he would babysit when the baby was born if we needed him to. That made Jared roll his eyes and smack the youngest wolf on the back fondly.

After the excitement over mine and Jared's impending parenthood died down, the topic of conversation reverted to Paul and the new imprint. I was back seated in Jared's lap with his hands across my stomach, and this time, we stayed focussed on Paul, no matter how much he seemed unwilling to talk about it.

"I don't even know who she is, all right? I saw her at the gas station outside Forks. And then she got into her car and left," he told us, which made me shake my head sadly. Jared was too busy pressing his nose against my neck to respond.

"How are you going to find her then?" Brady asked curiously, devouring his fifth muffin. Emily really did spoil the wolves far too much.

Paul rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. He was being very difficult about this entire thing. "I'm not, dumbass."

"What do you mean, you're not going to try and find her?" Emily asked Paul, her hands on her hips. When Sam tried to embrace her, she batted his hands way. She was busy playing pack-mother. "She is your imprint, Paul. Perhaps it hasn't hit you yet, but that is not something you can ignore."

"Emily..." Sam murmured. He looked uncomfortable. It struck me that he often looked uncomfortable when the subject of imprinting came up in conversation.

"No, Sam," Emily shushed him. "I don't think he understands."

"I understand perfectly well, Ems," Paul dismissed. "I'm going to be bound to some girl I don't even know for the rest of eternity whether I like her or not. I figure that if the powers that be really want this to happen, they'll bring us together. As it is, I'm not going to go looking for my own personal anchor to hold me back."

I couldn't work out whether I was supposed to be offended by that. Emily certainly seemed to be. And so did Sam and Jared, judging by the way they were growling and glaring daggers at Paul again.

"How dare you, Paul," Emily muttered quietly. From what little time I'd known Emily, she was the subdued type. She spoke her mind but she rarely got angry or spoke up, or shushed Sam.

"If you're not going to go and find your imprint," I muttered, "and you don't want her or care about her, then why did you break up with Maya?"

Paul shook his head. "Maybe the two things had nothing to do with each other," Paul told me, looking bored. Since coming back, he had become more and more like the Paul I had once known and disliked intensely. "Maybe I was just bored of her and the imprint gave me the kick in the ass I needed to end things with her. At least one positive came out of it."

"Oh, come on, Paul-" Jared began to tell him.

"You're a real jerk, Paul." It was Seth who spoke up, looking up at the older wolf with a sad look on his face. He got up from where he was sitting on the floor and dusted his jeans off. "I thought this was going to be all exciting and we were going to have a new imprint in the family. But obviously one of our brothers is too much of an ass to be a decent wolf. I don't know about you guys, but I'm kind of ashamed of him."

So fast that I barely even saw what was happening, Paul leapt out of his chair and pushed Seth back against the wall and snarled in his face. "You got something to say, _pup_?"

Seth didn't flinch, to his credit. But I understood what was happening. Paul was the more dominant wolf and Seth had disrespected him. It was his instinct to see Seth off and perhaps make an example of him. Plus, Paul had never been known for controlling his temper.

Sam pushed Emily gently towards Jared and I - making sure that she was protected - and grabbed a shaking Paul by the back of his neck. Embry was standing tensely just to Sam's side, ready to intervene if he too was needed.

"Let him go," Sam snarled at Paul. I could hear the commanding, dangerous edge to Sam's voice and if I had been holding onto someone I probably would have felt compelled to let them go myself. Paul did as he was told and allowed himself to be dragged out the back door of the house by his Alpha. From there, he ran into the woods, tugging off his shirt as he went.

"Are you all right, Seth?" Emily cooed worriedly, darting over to her cousin and placing a tender hand on his arm. "Paul didn't hurt you, did he?"

Seth grinned and shook his head. "As if he could! I reckon I could take him."

Embry laughed and slapped Seth on the back as they too headed towards the back door with Brady in toe. "Sure you could, kid."

Jared let out a relieved breath aginst my neck and his arms around my waist suddenly loosened. I hadn't realised how tight he had been gripping me. "He'd better stay out for a while. He can't just come in here and start acting up around all the imprints."

Emily smiled at Jared. "We're tougher than we look," she promised him while I stroked his hands comfortingly. "Here, have another muffin." The danger of Paul's anger, and the excitement of his imprinting was temporarily forgotten as Jared chowed down on one of Emily's delicious muffins. His seventh, I think.

* * *

_[A/N] Hey, guys! I hope y'all aren't too mad at me for being such a wimp with the updates. I am so incredibly sorry. It's just been hard to find time to write of late, and then I've also been finding myself uncharacteristically blocked. All in all, I hope you like this chapter. And do go hating all Paul too much, eh? [A/N]_


	3. A Vampire, a Werewolf and a Human

**Chapter 3:- A Vampire, a Werewolf and a Human...  
**

The day Jared finally managed to coerce me into going to see Doctor Cullen was the day that Jacob Black went off the deep end.

"What if it was a false positive?" Jared asked me on the Tuesday morning as I was concentrating very hard on learning the signs from my divers ed book, in the kitchen of my house. "I've heard those are common."

I looked up at Jared in surprise, my eyes wide in case someone had heard him. No, I had not gotten around to informing my parents of my being knocked up. I didn't expect them to react well, and I was enjoying the freedom in my life before they shut me into my room and threw away the key like I expected them to.

Jared was leaning against a counter and munching thoughtfully on dry breakfast cereal, dubiously inspecting the nutritional values on the back of the box. Was there ever a time when he wasn't interested in food?

"I don't think it's common to get like, four false positives in a row," I whispered incredibly quietly, knowing that his sensitive ears would hear me just fine. "What's your point?"

Jared sighed audibly from across the kitchen and put the cereal box back down before approaching me. Obviously he was meaning to say something serious, and was also worried about being heard. We were not alone in the house. While Dad was out with Anya, my mother and Zach were in.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm all excited about being a daddy," Jared told me, his eyes warm and soft. "But what if I'm getting all excited - if we're getting everyone's hopes up - for nothing. I just think it would be best if we went and got it confirmed by a doctor. Not that I don't trust the little pee sticks or anything." Jared almost grinned at me, patting me on the head.

I narrowed my eyes at my wolf. "It's an odd day when a werewolf who is hellbent on destroying vampires is trying to convince his imprint to go and have one poke her person. Odd indeed."

Jared rolled his eyes. A few months ago, the idea of me being anywhere near the Cullens would have made Jared all growly and angry. But now he barely seemed to care. Things had certainly changed since the battle that had had sworn enemies fighting side by side with a common purpose; saving a stupid human who seemed to just rub red-eyed vampires the wrong way.

"Little imprint of mine, it's not like I'm suggesting that you go and see him on your _own_. Of course I'd be there right next to you, growling at him and generally being manly." Jared winked at me with a smirk on my face and I stood up and flicked him on the ear.

Joking aside, I was still a bit unsure of whether I would be comfortable with a vampire with super-cold hands prodding me and studying me. It was an unsettling idea - even if Jared was promising to be right there with me. Jared might get too annoyed and growly and accidentally become a fully fledged growly wolf in the middle of a goddamn hospital, which would be not-so-good, considering how the pack generally aimed for inconspicuity.

"Please, Kim," Jared pleaded with me, pulling out the puppy dog eyes. He was quite the little brat when he really was intent on getting his own way. "I just want to be absolutely sure that you're all right. That there's nothing wrong or irregular."

I bit my lip and nodded at Jared, consenting to his request reluctantly. He kissed my cheek and stroked my hair affectionately. Yes, I had made him happy for now.

"Just friends, eh?" Zach teased, strutting into the room with a smirk on his face. "I've seen newly married couples who don't even moon over each other like you two. It's sad, really."

I blushed and flipped my brother off while Jared chuckled and let me go. "Well, actually Zach, We are a newly married couple. We ran away to Las Vegas last night and eloped. It was beautiful."

Jared grinned at me and rolled his eyes. _Yes, Little Imprint, you are an amusing one._

Zach just laughed and told me that he was going to tell Mom that I had a boyfriend. Childishly, he began singing, "Kim and Jared, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes- Ow!"

The kitchen was steadily filling up with Connwellers, and Jared was standing in the corner looking very much like he was enjoying himself. Mom had come in during Zach's immature chanting and clipped him across the ear, with an evil little smirk of her own.

"Zachary, you leave your sister alone or I'll be forced to start teasing you about how long it's been since you've brought a girl home to meet me," Mom told my brother, heading to the refrigerator. Zach's face visibly paled and his eye shifted guiltily.

"I don't think there's any need for that, Mom," Zach promised her before picking up an apple and fleeing the room. Jared was looking curiously at me, from where he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest.

"Nice to see you, Jared," my mother greeted Jared politely. "You two got anything planned for the day?" she asked as she greedily ripped open and dug into a chocolate pudding pot. She had been watching her weight recently, and obviously she thought that she deserved a treat. Jared was looking very jealous of her.

"I'm taking Kim into Port Angeles to see a movie," Jared answered my mother.

I raised my eyebrows at him and wondered if he was actually going to take me to see a movie, or if that was just a cover story for taking me to the hospital. He nodded slightly, confirming that he would indeed take me to see a movie in Port Angeles. It had been a while since we had gone to the cinema.

"Yes, those are the plans that we will be partaking in," I told my mother brightly, who just cocked an eyebrow at me and shook her head dismissively. "Good diet?" I asked my mom tartly, eyeing her pudding.

She flipped me off, much to Jared's amusement, before leaving the room with her pudding cup, declaring that she deserved to enjoy it in peace.

Once we were alone again, and Jared had polished off his box of cereal, he became more interested in me. Despite my regular protestations and declarations that I was trying to learn something, he was very intent on having some intimate time. He began by placing his large, warm hand on my hip. I could have dealt with that just fine if he hadn't begun stroking my hip a little before sliding his hand around the front so it was pressed into my abdomen. And then there was the nibbling. Early on in our physical relationship, Jared had figured out that nibbling on the side of my neck lead to all sorts of things; namely giggles and moans and sighs. All things that he enjoyed.

"Stop it," I begged him when I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. "We're in the... oh, ahhh... _kitchen._ It's not appropriate."

Jared didn't seem to think that my protests warranted his swift cooperation and continued his ministrations on my neck for another few moments.

"You're just lucky my dad's not home," I told Jared hotly, brushing the hair out of my face.

Jared grinned at me. "Why's that then? Would your daddy get out his rifle and shoot me for violating his daughter?" Jared chuckled, his eyes sparkling handsomely with humour.

The very idea of my father touching a firearm was ridiculous. He, like the rest of my family, was a strong believer in the 'Guns should be killed with fire' movement.

"You mock me now," I dismissed him pertly, "but you just wait until you're running out of here with a bullet hole in you. Then we'll see who's laughing."

Jared grinned wider. "Probably still me. I've never been shot but I can't imagine it would be that traumatising..."

I shook my head at him, unwilling to argue with him when he had werewolf strength and accelerated healing in his arsonary. He had too many unfair advantages for me to contend with.

* * *

Most people hated hospitals. My mom hated going to the hospital because she thought they smelled funny and that they were probably full of the spirits of the recently deceased. I was inclined to agree with her on the spirits thing. After all, in the last year, I had learned that both vampires and werewolves existed. It no longer seemed like a silly idea to believe that ghosts, witches and fairies could be real too.

Me though, I liked hospitals. I liked the way that the colour schemes all matched up and how they always smelled clean and like anti-septic. I liked how the linoleum floors were almost so shiny that you could practically see your own reflection in them if you looked down while you walked along the corridors.

The thing that I wasn't so keen on about going to this particular hospital though, was the presence of a certain God-like doctor who could kill me in an instant or who might go into a frenzy over the smell or sight of blood.

I knew that I wouldn't even had considered going to the hospital in Forks without Jared. I knew that Carlisle and the Cullens were supposed to be 'vegetarians', but what if one of them fell off the wagon and I was the nearest hunk of meat? It was impossible for my mind not to consider the possibility.

"Just relax," Jared chided me from where he was sitting next to me in the hospital waiting room. Jared had called Doctor Cullen before we had left my house and told him that we urgently needed an appointment.

The response had been that Doctor Cullen would 'make some time' for us. I sorely wished that he would have been booked up for the entire day, unable to see us. Or the entire week. Or so long, that we'd be forced to find another doctor.

"You relax," I fired back at Jared who was sitting there, just as tense as I was. Needless to say, having to come to the hospital had soured my previously good mood.

Jared fixed me with a funny look before shaking his head and going back to his magazine. He had obviously decided that the best way to deal with me while I was being like this was just to ignore me. I couldn't really blame him. I had snapped at him in the car on the way to the hospital about a song on the radio.

It was obvious to anyone, including myself, that I was being irrational but I couldn't seem to stop myself. It seemed to have just hit me what exactly was happening to me; and where my life was inevitably going. This was not what I had planned for my life. The plan, in short, had been to graduate high school and get the hell out of La Push as fast as possible. It was unlikely now that I would ever move away from La Push. With Jared - who I had no doubt was the love of my life - being hampered with the immense responsibilities of protecting the innocents and whatnot, it was imperative that he stayed in La Push.

I sighed and slumped in my seat, kicking myself for even thinking about such things. I loved Jared, and I would not allow myself to resent him for what had happened between us. He was, and always would be the best thing that ever happened to me. Sure, this pregnancy was unexpected... and more than a few years premature. It wasn't like I had envisioned Jared and I never having children. I had even gone so far to daydream about Jared and I cooing over some beautiful children with Jared's eyes... but in that daydream, we were in our thirties and we were well settled and financially stable.

_How are you even going to support a child? _

My evil inner voice had grown my dormant of late, but now it was back in full swing. And it had a point. While the mortgage of Jared's house had been paid off already, there were still massive financial barriers to us having a child just now! He was unemployed, and I couldn't fool myself into thinking he would be able to follow a lucrative career path, with his life being as it was. And me... I was only in high school! I was in no position to be able to hold down a full time job in order to support a child. What were we even _thinking? _How could we-

"Kimberly Connweller."

I snapped out of my depressing train of thought and looked up and the nurse who had called me name. She was smiling brightly at Jared and I, her pearly teeth straight and even.

I pulled myself ungracefully out of my chair and gave the nurse a shy smile of my own, grabbing Jared's warm hand and following her out of the waiting room. I could feel the tension rolling off of Jared's body as we made our way down a squeaky corridor, and I imagined that he could smell Doctor Cullen all over the place.

"Are you friends of Doctor Cullens?" the nurse asked us politely, sweeping a pale hand over her blonde ponytail. She was young enough that she seemed to think it was appropriate for her to be blatantly checking Jared out. She was probably asking herself was a guy like him was doing with a girl like me.

"Uh... sort of," Jared answered gruffly. He was trying to concentrate of the situation at hand, I could tell. It wasn't everyday that a werewolf to his imprint willingly into the clutches of a vampire.

"It's just that he cancelled some of his previous appointments to fit you in," the nurse confided in us. "I was quite surprised. Usually he's the only doctor who is on time for all of his appointments. The best doctor in this hospital, if you ask me."

I nodded, feigning interest while Jared stayed quiet, his hand clasping mine a little tighter.

"Anyway, here we are," the nurse announced, pushing open a wooden door and ushering us into an exam room.

Doctor Cullen stood up as we entered the room, and he absently clipped his pen onto the pocket of his white coat. His handsome face split into a kind smile at the sight of us, but he didn't hold out a hand.

_Smart man, _I thought. Jared would likely have bitten his hand if he had extended it towards us.

"Thank you, Judith," Doctor Cullen said, addressing the nurse. The nurse left the room, closing the door behind her.

I suddenly found myself giddy, thinking that the current situation was like the beginning of a terrible a joke: _So, there was a vampire, a werewolf and human all enclosed in a small room... _

"Good afternoon, Kimberly, Jared. How have you been keeping?" The good doctor motioned to two seats and Jared and I sat down. Doctor Cullen lithely sat into the chair opposite us.

"Good, thank you," replied politely, stilling gripping Jared's hand in mine.

"That's good to hear," Doctor Cullen replied, smiling once again. "I assume though, that this is a bit more than merely a social visit?"

"Well, _duh_," Jared muttered and I threw him a dirty look. He was the one who had forced me to come to the hospital to see a vampire doctor and now he was being rude?

"Well, you see," I began, "the thing is... What I mean to say is that..." I couldn't seem to get the words out, my cheeks heating. This wasn't a conversation that I had ever envisioned having, let alone with a vampire.

"Perhaps it would have been beneficial to have Edward here to interpret," Doctor Cullen said, chuckling.

"We think she's pregnant," Jared finally spat out bluntly.

The expression on Doctor Cullen's snowy pale face didn't change even as he answered. "Oh, I see. Well, how long have you been sexuall active? And when was your last..."

* * *

By the time we emerged from the hospital, almost an hour later, my cheeks were almost sore from all the blushing I had been doing. Beside me, Jared let out a deep breath and smiled at me, squeezing my hand.

After I had stumbled through the first awkward, but routine questions with Doctor Cullen, I had given him both a urine sample and a blood sample. To his credit, Doctor Cullen had been incredibly efficient, confirming my pregnancy very quickly and then he had Judith, the blonde nurse, escort Jared and I to see an OB/GYN, Doctor Stanley.

"So... that went well," Jared muttered. "I'm glad that the leech referred us to Doctor Stanley. That way, we don't have to deal with the vamps every time we need to see the doctor for you." Jared leaned over and kissed to top of my head. "Thank you for doing this for me."

I shrugged my shoulders. I was just happy that Doctor Stanley had cleared up all of the business about intimacy during the pregnancy and what was and wasn't safe for the pregnancy. There had been an awkward moment when Doctor Stanley had 'gone through our options' with us. Jared had tensed up when she had gone through the ins and outs of abortion and adoption.

I decided that we had to be ready for a child, because there was no possible way that I was going to take this away from Jared.

"So, what do you want to see in the cinema?" Jared asked as we got into his car, and I smiled contentedly as we drove away from the hospital.

* * *

_[AN] I am so, so, so, so sorry about the amount of time it's been since I updated. I have been having terrible computer trouble! But that is no excuse. I hope you keep reading as I would hate to lose any of you over my own stupidity._

_I know this chapter is a little dry... but I really wanted to add some depth to Kim's thoughts on the situation rather than her been uncharacteristically thrilled at the prospect of becoming a teen mom! Anyway, I hope you enjoy. [/AN]_


	4. Don't Push Me

**Chapter Four:- Don't Push Me 'Cuz I'm Close to the Edge**

"That is, without a doubt, the worst film I have ever seen," Jared complained as we exited the cinema. I gave him a sideways look and grinned at the traumatised expression he was wearing for my benefit. "I cannot believe that I actually just paid to see that! And that you made me watch it all the way through. You're evil, Kim!" Jared looked accusingly at me and I smiled innocently up at him.

I had enjoyed the movie; a chick flick by all accounts. A bit of soppy romance here, and a bit of comic misunderstanding there, and hey presto, I was a happy Kim. Sometimes it was nice to look at a world where werewolves and vampires and other miscellaneous supernaturals were not an everyday occurrence. It was relaxing.

"It wasn't that bad," I defended the movie, elbowing Jared in the side as we made our way across the parking lot to his car. Jared shook his head at me in disagreement as he pulled his little black cell phone out of the pocket of his jeans and switched it on.

"It was, Kim. It really, really was. The only good thing about the entire film was the scene where she showed her- oh, huh." Jared had broken off mid sentence, and stopped walking to examine the screen of his phone.

"What's up?" I prodded Jared, ignoring what I knew he had been about to say.

Jared looked up at me, his brow furrowed. "I have seventeen missed calls."

I raised my eyebrows as I attempted to peer around his arm to see the screen of his phone. "From who?

"Paul and... Emily and Billy Black," Jared told me. "Something's wrong."

I bit my lip as a worried expression appeared on Jared's handsome face and he ushered me towards his car, pulling open the passenger door and helping me in before closing the door behind me. As soon as he got into the driver's seat, he put his phone to his ear.

"Hey, Paul? What are all the- what? I was in the cinema with Kim... no, I didn't know. Where? You don't know... and why the fuck did he do it? Rachel said he just ran out... what was on the floor? A _wedding _invitation? Oh for fuck's sake, she just ruins his life over and over again... No, I'm on my way back now... No, I can't run, you idiot, Kim's with me. No, just... No, I'll get there when I get there, Paul." Jared hung up the phone and tossed it into the little tray of spare change on the dash, before strapping on his seat belt and starting the car.

"What's going on, Jared?" I asked curiously. Jared didn't answer for a moment, concentrating on backing out of the lot.

Once we were out on the road, speeding out of Port Angeles and towards the reservation, I repeated my question. Jared glanced over at me and said, "Jacob's up and dusted. He received an invitation to Bella and the leech's wedding this morning and he freaked out."

I could tell by the set of Jared's tense muscles, and the way his mouth had formed a thin line, that he was angry. I itched to reach out and smooth out his furrowed brow, stroke his jaw until he loosened it but I couldn't bring myself to do it. If I was being perfectly honest, something about Jared's posture when he was like this... it intimidated me.

"It's such a typical Bella thing to do," Jared suddenly exploded, banging his hand too hard on the steering wheel; the whole car lurched and I grabbed tightly onto the edge of the door. "She's just... she's so selfish. She didn't even think about how this would affect Jacob - who she knows damn well is completely in love with her."

I nodded. I agreed with what he was saying. If Bella Swan had had any heart whatsoever, she would have never sent the wedding invitation to Jacob. It was obvious that he had still been hoping that he would be able to steal her away from Edward Cullen - up until now, at least. Perhaps that was the reason he had run away; because he recognised that his chances to take Bella as his own were now completely diminished. He would never have her now.

Jared glanced over at me briefly and relaxed his death grip on the steering wheel, making a visible effort to calm himself. "Sorry... it just, it makes me so angry. Couldn't Carlisle have warned us or something?"

I tried to relax too. Jared, being my own personal wolf, was very tuned into what my body was doing so I knew that he would be able to tell if I was nervous or tense. He didn't need to be soothing me right now.

"It's not really... their problem," I pointed out, biting my lip slightly before going on. "I mean, I agree with you completely. It was really bitchy of Bella to send the invitation to Jacob. It's almost like she's trying to rub it in his face, you know? But I doubt that the Cullens really want to bother themselves that much with how he reacted."

Jared sighed, lifting one hand away from the steering wheel to run it over his face. Had it been anyone else in the driver's seat, I would have snapped at them to concentrate on the road. However, I knew that it was extremely unlikely that Jared would get us into an accident; his reflexes were unrivalled, and I knew that he was super aware of what was going on around him; especially when I was present.

"It's just... for someone who claims to love Jacob - even as a friend - it's a bit thoughtless, isn't it?" Jared finally said, his voice calm once more.

I nodded in agreement but didn't comment. A lot of things that went on between Edward, Bella and Jacob frustrated me. I had a mind to bang all of their heads together... you know, if two of them didn't have the superhuman strength to kill me faster than I could apologise. But I did feel like someone needed to sit the lot of them down and sort them out.

We were nearing the entrance to Forks now, thanks to Jared's fast driving, and he took the right turn onto the more narrow road that would lead us home to La Push. As the trees surrounded the road, Jared slowed the car a little and cocked his head to the side, seeming to listen to something that was going on outside the car; something that my primitive human hearing would never be able to pick up.

"They're trying to track him," Jared informed me as we sped up again.

When we arrived back into La Push, Jared drove us straight to his and Paul's house. As soon as he was out of the car, he brushed by me to give me a quick peck on the cheek before muttering a 'see you later' and running off toward the tree line, stripping off his t-shirt as he went.

Being the dutiful girlfriend that I was, I went and picked up the discarded clothing that I could see - not daring to actually venture into the woods - before going into the house. It wasn't locked, as per usual. With La Push being the small community that it was, people generally didn't feel the need to lock their doors. The crime rate he was practically non-existent. And besides that, anyone who would be stupid enough to break into Jared and Paul's house would only succeed in leaving their scents all over the house, and then they'd have two angry werewolves coming after them.

I was assaulted, as soon as I entered the house, by a loud crash coming from upstairs and I jumped in fearful surprise.

_What is going on? _

When you spent most of your waking moments surrounded by werewolves, walking into one of their houses to be faced by an intruder was a daunting - and unrealistic - prospect. I asked myself why Jared hadn't done anything; he would have surely been able to hear that there was someone inside from where he was outside.

I took a deep, calming breath, telling myself to calm down and began to ascend the stairs. The noise, I discovered, was coming from Paul's bedroom and as I cracked the door open I immediately knew why Jared hadn't been worried about this.

In the middle of Paul's bedroom was Maya; staring down at what looked to be a picture frame in her hands. Her normally glossy black hair was greasy and tied back into a lazy pony tail at the back of her head. I hadn't seen her since she had expelled me from her bedroom the day she and Paul had broken up, so I was surprised to see her now, in Paul's bedroom, looking like such a mess.

"Maya?" I asked tentatively, entering the room. Maya spun around at the sound of my voice, her mouth dropping open as she looked at me. Her eyes were still red rimmed, and I couldn't help but think that she had taken this break up harder than any of the numerous break ups she had endured before. Perhaps she had really thought that her relationship with Paul was the real thing.

"Kim," Maya said, seeming surprised to see me. "What are you doing here?"

I furrowed my brow, stepping slightly further into the room and surveying it. I could see that there was a lamp, broken on the ground and numerous items of Paul's clothing had been flung around the room. There was down scattered across the bed and on some of the floorboards like a pillow had been burst.

"Oh, that was a stupid question, huh? You practically live here these days, don't you?" Maya carried on. She seemed to realise that she was still holding the picture frame in her left hand, and with a shake, she let it crash to the floor, broken shards of glass scattering around Maya's booted feet.

"Maya!" I cried, taking a few steps towards her. What was I to do in a situation like this? "What are you doing? You can't come in here and-"

"And what?" Maya challenged me, setting her mouth into a firm line and crossing her small arms across her chest. "I thought you were supposed to be my best friend, Kim! I thought the whole idea of the girl code was to not let boys get between us... But look at us! As soon as a boy does something horrible to me, you side with him! You don't even come and cheer me up, you just carry on like I never even existed!" Maya's eyes were filling with tears, which was quite pitiful, but I couldn't stop the anger that was boiling up in me. She was going to attack me? _Again? _

"That's not fair, Maya!" I protested. "I did come and try to cheer you up, but all you did was to try and make me feel bad about myself, like you either. And for the record, if the girl code meant so much to you, you wouldn't have gone with Jared behind my back!" I shrieked at her, my cheeks flaming as I remembered the moment in which I had recognised Jared and Maya sloppily pressing themselves together against the wall of a house while I watched in horror. "I forgave you for that, which was much worse!"

Maya scoffed, using one small, shaking hand to brush the greasy hair out of her face. "Oh, please! Jared had never even noticed you then, and you were just a pathetic loser lusting after him. I was embarrassed to be around you! I can't help it if guys find me more attractive than _you_."

I took a step back from Maya, not wanting to get any closer to her. I could feel my own eyes filling with tears now as Maya told me what she truly thought of me.

"What I can't quite work out though, is why Jared ever finally took an interest in you? I mean, _look _at you!" Maya exclaimed, throwing her hands out towards me, and making me shrink back as if she had actually struck me. Maya had never been so cruel to me before; and I couldn't help but let out a strangled sob as her words sunk in. From other people, I had steeled myself against them making comments about my appearance, my personality, or heaven forbid, my weight. But Maya... she was one of the only people I had ever trusted to never say those things to me.

"Get out," I told Maya quietly and she just raised her eyebrows at me. "Get out! Get out, get out, _get out!" _By this time I was screaming at her. Maya, to my credit, did look shocked at my reaction. I stomped across the floor towards her, swinging my arms at her like a madwoman as I screamed again. "_Get out! _We're not friends anymore, and I want you to _never _come back here."

Maya's hands shook as she reached out to gently push me away. I stumbled, tripping over my own clumsy feet. And then I was sailing towards the floor, my breath leaving me suddenly. I took the impact in my arms mostly, and I thought I was all right. I waited a moment, and then I suddenly felt something very wrong. There was a sharp, stinging pain in my stomach where it had landed against the floor.

I could hear Maya heading towards the door, not seeming to care about my position on the floor. That was until I called out her name. "Maya," I called out, my voice twisted with fear. "Come back, Maya! My stomach... I- the baby," I choked.

A cold fear overtook my body, which was far worse than the pain in my stomach. I managed to lift myself up so I was sitting with my back against the side of Paul's bed. Looking down, a wave of nausea overtook me as I saw the red splotch that was forming on the front of my shirt. I swallowed the bile that had been rising in my throat and reached down to carefully touch my stomach with my fingers.

As my fingers ran over something hard, pain stabbed through me again and I cried out to the empty house. In the back of my mind - which was now filled with panic - I had noted the sound of the front door slamming, and I knew that Maya had left me.

I took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm myself down and fight back the pain.

_The pain is only in your mind. The pain is only in your mind. The pain is only in your mind._

Despite my internal rambling, I couldn't stop myself from feeling the pain. A few more deep breaths, and I came up with a plan.

With shaking fingers, I moved myself gingerly so that I could reach into the pocket of my jeans and pull out my own cell phone. I hadn't bothered to turn it on after the cinema, so it took a few never-ending moments for it to come to life in my hands. And then... then, I phoned my mother.

* * *

To her credit, my mother didn't freak out exponentially when I screamed at the doctor in the hospital about whether the baby was all right. I mean, sure she was shocked. What mother wouldn't be shocked to take her seventeen year old daughter to the hospital with a shard of glass wedged into her stomach, only to find out that she was pregnant herself?

In the end, they had to sedate me to keep me calm enough for them to remove the glass and see to the wound. Afterwards, Doctor Cullen had informed me kindly that under normal circumstances, the wound wouldn't have been severe enough to warrant sedation but because I was freaking out so much, they couldn't keep me still enough to work.

When I came to, groggy and panicked, my mother was sitting by the side of my hospital bed, calmly reading one of those trashy magazines that she claimed to hate so much.

I must have made a noise, because suddenly my mom looked up from the glossy pages and realised I was awake. Tossing aside the magazine, she stood up and came over to stand next to my bed. She picked up a glass of water and held the straw to my lips.

I took a few pulls of icy cold water to clear my throat before asking the all important question: "The baby?" I had to know, and she was the only person around to ask.

My mother's face flattened into a sort of frown, but she answered anyway. "The _baby,_" - she said the word with a certain air of disgust that made me cringe - "is fine. Not affected at all. You, on the other hand... what the hell happened, Kim?"

I remembered sitting on the floor of Paul's room, surrounded by broken glass and pillow down, sobbing hysterically as my mother ran into the room and crouched beside me, her hands on my shoulders trying to calm me down.

"I... Jared and I went to the cinema in Port Angeles, and when we came back he had to go and help find Jacob so I went into his house," I began. I realised that it almost felt strange calling it 'his house' when I almost thought of it as 'our house'. "I could hear all these noises coming from upstairs so I went to see what was going on and I found Maya there in Paul's room. They broke up a couple of days ago, and I think Maya was like, trying to get revenge or something."

"Revenge?" my mom repeated, her eyes wide. "She did this to you to get revenge on Paul?"

"No! No, no, no," I told her quickly. Even though what Maya had done made my stomach roll, I knew logically that it hadn't been intentional or malicious. Though... she hadn't come back when I'd called out for her. "Maya and I got into an argument... when I told her to get out, she pushed me and I fell. I must have landed on some of the broken glass." Underneath the scratchy hospital blankets, I cautiously touched my stomach with one hand and could feel the dressing they had stuck to it.

My mom's eyes were wide with emotion; anger, disappointment, shock... This wasn't the way I had wanted my parents to find out and my impending parenthood, but it couldn't be helped now.

"Did you call Jared?" I asked my mom suddenly, wanting to feel his comforting presence standing next to my bed, protecting me.

My mother shook her head and licked her lips, preparing to speak. "Kim, while I realise that now is not the perfect time to talk about your... pregnancy, I don't want you to think that we aren't going to have a discussion about this. I'm quite disappointed in you right now." I dropped my head a little, biting my own lip. "But, I think that can wait until you're feeling a little more up to it. No, I haven't called Jared, by the way. Your phone's right there." She gestured to the table beside my bed before moving towards the door. "Your dad and Zach are here somewhere, worried sick. I'm going to go and tell them that you're awake."

As soon as my mother left the room, I took a deep breath and picked up my phone from the bedside table. I was surprised to find that there were three missed calls, all from Jared. They had probably walked in and found the state of Paul's bedroom and wondered where I had gone. I hit the redial button and held the phone to my ear.

"Kim?" Jared answered on the third ring. "Where did you go? Did you see the state of Paul's bedroom? Was Maya here?"

"Uh- yes, Maya was there," I answered Jared, furrowing my brow. "Jared, I need you to come to the hospital."

"Why?" Jared asked slowly, his voice cold. "Are you alright? Is there something wrong with the baby?"

I swallowed. "I... I fell over. Just come to the hospital. Please."

"I'm on my way," Jared said immediately, before hanging up the phone.

Knowing that he would be there soon calmed me a little. Being in the hospital twice in one day was taking its toll on me and I just needed my wolf beside me where he could protect me and our baby.

I wondered how he would react when I told him the cause of my being driven to hospital emergency room by my mother. Jared already had his reservations about Maya after I had told him about our argument when I'd been to her house after the break up, but I was scared that something like this could make him a little insane.

My train of thought was interrupted when Doctor Stanley came into the room. Her smile was as kind as it had been this morning when I had first met her, but this time her eyes were a little worried.

"Twice in one day, Kimberly," she greeted me jovially. "I hope you're not going to make a habit of this. You're not my only patient, you know?"

I tried to muster up a smile to give back to her, but my efforts were lacking in enthusiasm. "No, this is quite... unusual."

Doctor Stanley nodded, her blue eyes flicking down to the clipboard she held in her pale hands. "You'll be pleased to know that this... accident? Well, it hasn't had any affect on your pregnancy. Though, I would advise you to give lying on top of pieces of broken glass a miss in future."

"Me too," I muttered, and Doctor Stanley smiled a little. "You're sure everything's okay, though? Because, you know the glass was right in my stomach, right?"

Doctor Stanley smiled sympathetically. "I'm absolutely sure that you're fine. Your body is adapting to protect your fetus, and it does a pretty good job of it usually. That isn't to say that you shouldn't be more careful in future though, Miss Connweller."

After Doctor Stanley left, giving me strict instructions to take it easy for a while, Doctor Cullen and my family entered the room. Zach's usually bright face was ashen as he came to stand by my bed, smiling a little at me. My father was profuse in his thanks to Doctor Cullen when he told me about why the sedation had been necessary.

"You should be right as rain in a couple of weeks as long as you just take it easy," he told me with a smile, before leaving the room. I wondered absently is 'take it easy' was a term that doctors were taught when they were attending doctor school. Though I supposed it had been a long while since Doctor Cullen had attended doctor school.

My mother was just in the middle of a rant about how she was going to run Maya out of La Push when Jared barrelled through the door. My whole family glared at him - though Jared didn't really seem to care - now that they were in on the secret of my pregnancy. While I hadn't explicitly told them that Jared was the father of the baby I was carrying, I couldn't fault them for assuming so.

"Kim!" Jared exclaimed, shouldering his way past my brother to stand next to me. He reached out and gently stroked my cheek. "What's wrong? What happened?"

A part of me relaxed and sighed in relief now that Jared was next to me, tenderly stroking my cheek as he scanning my body with his eyes to see if he could figure out what had gone wrong.

My family decidedly cleared out of the room to leave Jared and I alone. Jared scooted one of the plastic chairs closer to my bed and sat down in it, taking my hand. As I told him what happened, Jared went from being quietly concerned, to angry, to panicked and then relieved as I told him that there was nothing seriously wrong with either myself or the baby.

"This is all my fault," he suddenly announced as he gripped my hand with both of his. I raised my eyebrows at him in question. How could it possibly have been his fault? "I knew that Maya was in the house, and I knew that she angry. But I thought- I thought that it would be okay for you to go in with her in there. I mean, I knew that you guys were kind of in a fight, but I didn't think that she would actually hurt you!"

"_Jared_," I growled. "This is not your fault, you idiot!" Jared looked surprised, and his brown eyes open wide to look up at my face. "And Maya didn't mean to hurt me either." Jared scoffed and muttered about how if he ever saw her go near me again, he was going to do something stupid. "Don't be an idiot, Jared. I'm fine," I promised him. "There's no harm done."

Jared sighed. "Paul thinks it's his fault as well. He was too much of a pussy to come and see you because he thought you would blame him."

I blinked. "Why would it be Paul's fault?"

"Because he was the one who made Maya go all crazy bitch in the first place," Jared explained patiently. If the circumstances had been different, I knew that he would have been amused by the idea of Paul make a girl 'go all crazy bitch'.

"It's nobody's fault," I decided, much to Jared's dismay. Sure, a part of me blamed Maya and wanted to hurt her for it. But I knew that I wouldn't. It was better just to put it to rest. That wasn't to say that I would ever forgive Maya for what had happened between us, but I also wouldn't go all crazy bitch on her.

Feeling finally calm, I dozed off to sleep in the lumpy hospital cot, with Jared's warm hand clutched in mine. As I succumbed to the darkness, I vaguely remembered that I hadn't warned Jared that my family knew we were pregnant.

_Ah, oh well..._

* * *

_[AN] So, this update has come to any readers that I have left sufficiently faster than my previous updates, I should think. And quite an intense chapter too! The pregnancy is not going to be the only thing going on this story, by the way. But it does have to take precedent right now because it's like a new thing, and as Kim is the narrator, she is obviously going to be thinking about it quite a lot!_

_So, thoughts on Maya? This isn't going to be the last we see of her. Do you think she's going to be a crazy bitch for the rest of the story or do you think she's going to try and make a mends? What do you think will happen to her?_

_And I know! There was no Paul in this chapter or the last one - that makes me sad too! But he'll be back in the next chapter - I promise to give you some dedicated Paul and Kim time and maybe we'll discover a little more about the most recent imprint! Who knows?_

_Thanks for reading, if there are indeed any readers left. Sorry for my behaviour about not updating, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of it now. Forgive me? [/AN]_


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